IT provider Wipro's new desktop-as-a-service product for health care, banking and other verticals is based on virtualization technology from Citrix and Microsoft.

At the Citrix Synergy conference on Oct. 6 in
Berlin, global IT provider Wipro Technologies announced its Wipro
desktop-as-a-service system for vertical markets such as health care,
education, manufacturing and banking.

The DAAS product incorporates Citrix's XenDesktop virtualization platform
and delivery technology along with Microsoft's VDI Premium suite of
infrastructure and management software, which allows users to stream,
virtualize and manage remote software from their PC.

According to Deepak Jain, Wipro's senior vice
president and global head of technology infrastructure services, the
goal of the DAAS product is to "simplify the implementation and
management of virtual desktops for various industry verticals," he
wrote in a statement. Customers want both virtual desktop and
virtualized applications with a low operating expense, Jain said.

The settings on the DAAS application meet specific
performance and security requirements of customers in various vertical
industries. The DAAS can be hosted, local, physical or virtual, the
company reports.

With the Citrix HDX high-definition technology
built into DAAS, customers can view the application on a PC, Mac, thin
client, tablet or smartphone.

The combination of the Citrix XenDesktop and Microsoft VDI Premium
suite could make the DAAS platform appeal to organizations because of
its low cost, modularity and scalability, Sumit Dhawan, Citrix vice
president of XenDesktop product marketing, suggested in a statement.
"This new service broadly addresses the needs of different users via
multiple types of virtual desktops, such as session-based shared
desktops for task workers, VDI desktops for power users, or streamed
desktops for lab environments," Dhawan said in a statement.

David McCann, general manager, of Server and Cloud Platform
marketing at Microsoft, noted that the DAAS software is simpler and
more effective than other platforms and provides flexibility on work
location.

"Employees want options in where and how they work, while IT still
needs to enforce compliance and cost containment," McCann said in a
statement. "Our work with Wipro can help customers build on existing
investments with comprehensive management to mitigate risks and control
costs, while still equipping employees to be more productive from
anywhere."
DAAS is now available in beta and will be released officially in the
first quarter of 2011. It will be available at the company's data
centers or remotely.

Brian T. Horowitz is a freelance technology and health writer as well as a copy editor. Brian has worked on the tech beat since 1996 and covered health care IT and rugged mobile computing for eWEEK since 2010. He has contributed to more than 20 publications, including Computer Shopper, Fast Company, FOXNews.com, More, NYSE Magazine, Parents, ScientificAmerican.com, USA Weekend and Womansday.com, as well as other consumer and trade publications. Brian holds a B.A. from Hofstra University in New York.